Elmhurst Plans Session For Concerns On Quarry

After months of delay, Elmhurst residents will get a chance to express their feelings about a nearby quarry operation.

An informal public meeting on how blasting and landfill operations at the Elmhurst-Chicago Stone Co. quarry in Elmhurst affect its neighbors has been scheduled for Sept. 21 in City Hall.

The city council`s Public Affairs and Safety Committee has called the meeting, requested by other aldermen last May after a nighttime blast in the quarry disturbed neighbors.

At the time several Elmhurst officials told a reporter that they were concerned that the landfill operation at the quarry at West Avenue and 1st Street didn`t have a proper permit from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.

But Kenneth Bechely, regional manager for the state EPA`s division of land pollution control, said the stone company has a developmental permit issued March 13, 1980, and modified that December. As long as the firm takes in no garbage or construction debris, it needs no other permit, Bechely said. Bob Welborn, a landfill operator at the quarry, said no metal or garbage is accepted for dumping there, only dirt, concrete, clay and asphalt.

Elmhurst aldermen have wanted stone company officials to meet with them and area residents. But one official said he doubted the quarry would accept the city`s invitation to send a representative to the meeting.

Attempts to reach quarry officials for comment about the blasting have been unsuccessful.

Aldermen also have asked the city staff to get prices for measuring equipment to monitor quarry blasts. City Manager Thomas Borchert said he will present the information at the Sept. 21 session.

Borchert said he is considering monitoring the landfill operation under an existing ordinance.